Pete and I spent most of 2013 traveling around Asia. I didn’t get a chance to tell many people about all of our adventures because we were only back in Canada for a short time. So I have decided to make a break down on what we did, where we went and how much we spent to give some people an idea. So here it goes!

Our main goal behind coming to Korea was to travel. Having already seen a lot of Europe while living in France, we moved on to the next continent, Asia. Pete and I took every Chance we had while working in Korea to travel, but seeing as though our time off was extremely limited we started planning a large backpacking trip for the end of our contacts. My obsessive nature to plan consumed all of my breaks between classes and drove me to do more overtime than I could handle. For the first 6 months I worked from 10 am till 10 pm with a 2 hour break where I usually laid in bed trying not to think of how tired I was. But it was all going to be worth it…

Pete and I managed to pay off roughly $20 000 in debt, and save $21,000 for our trip/move back to Canada. We both worked extremely hard and even extended our contacts for an extra 4 months to save every penny possible. We managed to do all this while still exploring almost every corner of Korea.

To start telling you about our trip I’ll answer the most common questions asked to us.

1. “How many countries did you make it too?”

From December 2012 to May 2013, we made it to 11 different countries/special administrative regions not including Korea.

We started our trip in the south of Thailand so we could enjoy the beaches and relax for Christmas. We slowly made our way up to the North and then booked a $17 flight to Malaysia to attend Swedish House Mafia’s One Last Tour. After our quick stop over in Malaysia we headed back up to Laos, over to Vietnam, down the coast of Vietnam and boated into Cambodia. We then decided we needed more beach time! So we hopped on a flight to the Philippines and visited one of the most popular holiday Islands, Boracay. After paying way too much for hotels and beer we decided to head below the equator (our first adventure there)! Bali here we come! Side note: at this point in time I was expecting to get an email from my prospective school saying “come and join us for an interview in April!” any day now, but seeing as though a slightly different email came “Sorry, but don’t rush home” we decided to blow our budget and keep traveling. From Bali we intended on making our way over to Java, but we stumbled upon these three little islands called The Gillis and decided we have seen enough temples in the past 2 years to justify skipping Java. We laid on a beach and snorkeled with sea turtles for the remainder of our visa. Where to next? We didn’t really decide this until we found a cheap flight to Hong Kong, with a few days in Singapore in between. We went from Hong Kong (to obtain our Chinese visa), to Macau then up to China on a $25 dollar flight. We spent a few weeks there, checking off some bucket list items, before we decided that it was time to head back to Canada.

2. “What was your favourite country?

This was probably one of the most common questions asked and the most difficult to answer. We had so many great experiences in every country. They were all so different and amazing, how could we possibly pick!? So we have composed a list of “favourites”.

Favourite country to eat: Thailand! We both love Thai food and it was so cheap and delicious! They cater to vegetarians and people who love spice! We ate more Phad thai, curry and mango smoothies in one month then most people eat in their life!

Favourite country to relax: Laos. We loved, loved, loved Laos. Some people say the acronym PDR (people’s democratic republic of Laos) actually stands for Please Don’t Rush. The people here are so kind, always smiling and super chill. So chill that at the airport, after having our visas officially canceled to leave the country, we freely walked in and out of security, across the street and around the corner to get some snacks… which they didn’t even check while walking back into the boarding area. A little more relaxed than what we are used to flying through North America.

Favourite country for Beaches: Although Thailand and Philippines are both well known for beaches, Pete and I would have to say our favourite beach location was Vietnam. We spent a week in Nha Trang and never wanted to leave. The beach was clean, and not over crowded like Thailand’s. The waves were HUGE (borderline dangerous) and it made swimming more enjoyable, especially for Pete. And one last thing that puts Nha Trang on the top of our list, the hawkers were not nearly as intrusive and pushy. They didn’t stand at your towel insisting you needed a second pair of sunglasses.

Favourite country for Snorkeling: Indonesia! On Gili T we intended on staying 5 days and ended up staying 3 weeks. The first time you see a sea turtle is magical. It looks as though it soars through the water effortlessly and what seems like snorkeling for a few minutes is really hours. We swam with turtles every day while on Gili T and it has left us with dreams of retiring there. We also loved snorkeling in Tulamben, Bali. There is a sunken ship right off the coast that is home to thousands of fish and black tip reef sharks, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

Favourite country for drinking: This one’s a tie! Cambodia because the beers are less than 50 cents and after a long day of cycling the temples it’s exactly what you need! And Laos because nothing is more relaxing then tubing down a river for 4 hours with a bag of beer chilling in the water.

I could go on forever with favorite lists but I think I’ll save some of those for another post.

3. “How much did you spend?”

Since we were on such a tight budget and didn’t want to blow all of our savings, we did things as cheap as possible.

Our total trip expenses were: $14,236.32. That is about $7,120 each for 5 months of travel including all flights.

Here is a little breakdown of where that money went.

Some factors that affected our budget

Developed cities like Singapore, Kula Lumpar, Hong Kong and Macau. We would only stay a few days here because they were just too expensive yet we were not willing to cut them out of our trip.

Traveling during Christmas and Lunar New Year. This drove up the prices for everything!!

We tried to avoid guided tours as much as possible because they were extremely pricey but we did splurge a few times and it was worth every penny! Halong Bay cruise set us back about $500 but it was so effortless which allowed us to really enjoy its beauty.

Getting sick. Although the doctors are reasonably priced (and internationally trained… I added this for you mom), it’s still an added expense that was not budgeted for. My least favorite way to spend money.

Broken Camera. We broke our underwater camera a day before we were snorkeling with whale sharks and it was absolutely mandatory we bought a new one! This set us back about another $150.

4. “Which countries were the cheapest?”

As you can see from question 3 we kept very good records of how much we spent. Here is an overview of how much we spent each day per person. This includes hotels, meals, admissions, transport (excluding air) and other misc. expenses like souvenirs. We did sometimes stay in nicer hotels because we were tired of counting every penny for the sake of comfort. We opted for a 5 star sweet over looking the Petronas towers when we went to Malaysia for the Sweetish House Mafia concert. This cost us roughly $60 rather than the usual $20-30 we spend on accomodations.

5. “What country would you want to go back to?”

If you were reading question 2 carefully you’ll already know that Pete and I plan on moving to Indonesia and retiring there forever! But all jokes aside, we would go back to almost all of them! We feel like although we spent a good chunk of time in each but there are so many things to see and do in that we didn’t have time or money for. I guess you’ll just have to stay tuned to see where we are off to next!

These were the 5 main questions we got asked most often about our trip! I hope you have a better idea as to where we went and what we enjoyed. If you have any more questions feel free to ask, we love talking about our trip and hope to start planning another one soon!

Since Pete and I have decided to return to Korea I have started to start blogging again! It’s a great way to stay in contact will all my friends and family and let them know what we’re up to!

fall in Korea

I’ll start with the million dollar question which we got asked numerous of times “why are you going back there again?” Well the short version is that there are not that many jobs* for University grads in Canada at the moment. And the long version that risks me getting into some hot water with my family is that there isn’t much there for us back home.

Being two young and adventurous people with little responsibilities it was incredibly hard being back in Canada for the summer. We found jobs after a few weeks and we gave it an honest chance, but as the weeks passed our savings dwindled, our happiness went out the door and we quickly realized something had to change in order to maintain our sanity. I feel bad for having put my best friend, Alaina, through those times. Sure, she was glad to see us after being gone for 2 years and would never admit we were Debby downers but… we were. We didn’t adjust very well, we started fighting and bickering and I would have to go to the gym in the middle of the night just to escape my thoughts of how sad we actually were. It was nothing short of a miracle when our directors emailed us and asked us to come back to Korea.

Pete’s family was ecstatic for us, my grandmother insisted I could “find full time work at Tim Hortans and make decent money to live off of” and Alaina gave me the silent treatment for a few days. We love our family (please note that I am including Alaina in this section because she truly is my family) so much but if it’s one thing we learned while being away is that you can love people from a far. Love does cross oceans and seas, it flies over mountains and swims through rivers. I may not be there when Alaina’s little boy goes to sleep every night, but my love is always there.

So we decided to accept the offer to go back and give Korea another go around. After all the hard good-byes, we made our way back to what we now consider “home”. It is the one place we have spent the longest in the 4 years we have been dating, it’s the place we are most comfortable, have the most freedom and have a life. We are extremely happy here and love our lives. Pete and I joke that Korea would be perfect for us is we could just uproot all our friends and family and bring them here. The stress free life and the decent wages have allowed us to travel and accomplish some of our goals that would never have been possible back in Canada.

We know that we won’t be here forever and that one day Canada will offer us more than Korea but for now Korea offers us everything we need and although our friends and family miss us, I hope they are happy for us.

So we have been back in Canada for about two months now, and I have to say…. it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Having lived abroad for the past 2 and a half years, Pete and I really got to experience all these amazing and wonderful cultures around the world. And when people asked us “where are you from?” with such pride we would respond “Canada!” and know it was the best country in the world. We would tell people about how clean and wonderful and amazing Canada was, and we believed it… until we came back.

Being born and raised in Canada we grew to love and respect our home country. But as we grew older and more world traveled we came to realize that the Country we loved doesn’t quite love us back. It is like a bad relationship where you keep telling yourself “it’ll get better, we’re just going through a rough patch”. But as you look at all the people around you, in the same situations, you begin to realize its not just a rough patch, it’s Canada.

Our whole life we were pressured to go to university because that’s how you get a well paying job. But after spending forty grand on an undergrad you never utilize you leave this wonderful little bubble called university and step into the rat race.

You start working an ok job, thinking to yourself it only gets better from here but 10 years later your stuck with the same company doing relatively the same job and only getting paid slightly more. But as time goes by, you realize how much stuff you absolutely need, a new TV, a new car, and the newest ipod, ipad, iphone, i-everything. You start the cycle and your life becomes more work than life. And the hardest part to adapt to all of this is the fact that these companies, this country, doesn’t really value you or your hard work… if they could have someone in china do it for cheaper, they would.

Pete and I came from Korea, where they admired our education and realized it was a great feat and respected us. Korea is such a proud country, they buy Korean because they know it supports their economy, where Canada has followed suit with the States and to turn he biggest profit they outsource. When does it stop being about the money and start being about a better life and future for your country?

Being back in Canada the only jobs we have interviewed for are entry level minimum wage jobs that are quite frankly insulting to all our hard work we have done and all of our achievements. I feel as though our pride in our country diminishes when other countries offer us a much brighter, more financial stable future. It is frustrating and hard to accept that rejection from the one thing you loved so much growing up. It is like that boy you spent your entire life trying to impress telling your flat out “sorry you’re just not good enough”.

So, as Canada day is approaching you see the stores fill with towels covered in maple leaves, clothes in red and white and maple leaf hats, bags, cups, stickers, shoes, ipod case for your latest model ipod… all of course sporting their little “Made in China” tag. In my heart of hearts, I love Canada and always will. I will still respond with excitement, pride and happiness when someone asks we where I am from. I just wish that there were better opportunities here for young professionals wishing to succeed and not wanting to settle for minimum wage… but until then Canada will just remain that distant, out of reach dream.

Before coming to Korea I was worried about the there being a gym readily available to me. I know this is probably the last thing on some people’s minds but after spending 4 months living in Europe and having my only outlet for exercise being parks to run in, it was my top priority. If I was to live and survive in foreign country there needs to at least be a gym to workout at. In fact, it was one of the first questions I asked while in the interview for the position in Ulsan. So after we got paid we signed up for the reasonably priced gym membership and got our “Health and Beouty” on.

It is conveniently located directly next to my school, so no bus ride was needed to get there. The gym itself is unlike anything I have ever seen, some of the equipment is something you would see in an 80’s workout video. They have the shaking band massagers; you know the ones where you put the band around your waist or ass and watch it jiggle away all your fat. By looking at all these stick thin Korean girls you would think such a contraption actually works. I’m sure it gives a great massage but I am terrified to try it, let’s just say I have a little more junk in my trunk then the average Korean girl. They also have wooden rollers, inverters, and some interesting old school equipment. All jokes aside though it is a pretty amazing gym, with almost everything you need. And the great thing is that not a lot of Koreans like getting sweaty, in fact I have yet to see a girl sweat half as much as I do, so it stays pretty clean.

There are only a few negatives about the gyms here. For starters, the change rooms have the most impractical set up I have ever seen. When you first walk into the change room you need to take off your shoes in true Asian fashion, which if you like your shoes to be tied just right, it gets really annoying having to take them off whenever you go into the locker area. Then everything is at knee level because everyone sits on the floor here. So once you have taken an extra 10 min untying your perfectly tied shoes, dodging the corners on the tables that are out of your line of sight they are so low and tried not to make eye contact with the older Korean women pointing at your belly button piercing while muttering, you are ready to go! Oh but wait, you now have to re-tie your shoes. So you sit down on the edge of the platform floor and carefully put on your shoes making sure not to bend the backs down like your mother has always told you. When you notice that every other pair of shoes there have the backs all stepped on and broken. Some of the shoes there even have built in platforms to be taller while working out! I couldn’t think of a better place to strive to be taller, I bet if they were allowed to wear actual heels on the treadmill they would. So alas, you have made it out of the change room, 15 min behind schedule, but with perfectly intact shoes.

But wait, that coffee you had for breakfast has really made you need to go to the bathroom!! Not an issue, we’re in Korea, there are sure to be bathrooms here! Right? Well yes right, but hardly what I would consider and appropriate bathroom for a gym. These bathrooms are fully equipped with the finest in squat toilets and sinks with no running water. Don’t get me wrong, having backpacked India, I am no stranger to squat toilets, but having done strenuous leg exercises the day before, if I happen to made it down there without falling in there is no way I will be making it back up. Needless to say, I do the potty dance every now and then until I can run home.

Although the gym may not be up to my western standards in way of the change room and bathrooms, I am just grateful there is a gym. If anything it just makes for an interesting story and a better understanding of the Korean culture!

When Pete and I initially signed our contracts we knew we were given ten days off on top of all the Korean Holidays. Little did we know that these days would not be bunched together in a group but rather spread out individually across the 12 months we would be in Korea. This put a slight damper on our travel plans during winter break because instead of getting 7 days off like we thought we were, we only received 5 days. But at this point we were determined to go somewhere warm and that wasn’t Korea.

So, we combined our very small budget with some of our goals to be completed before heading back to Canada. The cheapest place to fly to was hands down the Philippines. So we did some research and looked for things there that would be worth the money and time. We were ecstatic when we found out that January was the beginning of the season to swim with the world’s largest fish, the whale shark. This was never on our dream list, but after seeing pictures and reading about the unbelievable experience how could we go through life knowing we missed such a thing? So about $400 later, two plane rides, and a very sketchy first introduction to Manila, we landed in a small city called Legazpi.

We arranged for a car from the hotel to meet us at the airport to do a city tour before heading to Donsol. Pete and I, being frugal travelers we planned on busing and taking public transport from Legazpi to Donsol, but after a sleepless night in the airport and being on a time crunch we really wanted to get the most out of our trip to the Philippines so we opted for the charter. Which in the end, I was very glad for, because we got to see the Cagsawa Ruins, the Mayon volcano and Langon Hill. The volcano, although covered by clouds, was enormous! Other than our trip to Santorini, Greece, we had never seen such a volcano.

The Cagsawa Ruins were also an unbelievable sight. It was an old church where during the 1814 volcanic eruption, 1200 people hid out because they thought they would be spared the horrible death of being burned up by the lava. Unfortunately, they all perished and the church was almost completely destroyed. The only remaining parts were some of the exterior walls and the bell tower. With the Mayan volcano in the backdrop, the ruins stood as an eerie reminder of the true danger of volcanoes. This is definitely a sight worth seeing if you venture to Legazpi.

The drive to Donsol was a good hour, and having not slept the night before Pete and I were rocket to sleep by the van weaving around all the corners. It was a much needed cat nap for our first day in Donsol. We stayed at the AGM resort which was right on the beach so we cracked some dollar beers and watched the sun go down before headed out to the firefly boat cruise.

We split the cost of the boat tour and the transportation with a Mother and her two kids from Denmark. It ended up being ridiculously cheap but when we saw the tricycle pull up to our hotel the only thing going through our heads were “Pete can barely fit in this. Let alone 4 other people, plus the driver”. To give you a better picture, imagine a motorcycle with a covered side car attached. After playing human Tetris for a few minutes we were all holding on for dear life as we putted by at about 10 km/h, around pot holes, children, dogs and some other overly crowded tricycles. The boat tour itself was unbelievable. Unlike in Canada, fireflies in the Philippines live in colonies. We were able to see thousands upon thousands of fireflies swarming around the canopies of the trees. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. It looked like a sparkling Christmas tree that was breathing. On top of the stunning images we also learned a lot about fireflies from our guide. Did you know that fireflies are carnivores that eat larvae on trees by injecting a paralyzer into them? Or that the male and female have different blinking patterns? Me either! So not only an amazing sight that I will never forget but also very informative!

We had such an amazing first day in Donsol, we were starting to get a little frightened that it will all turn sour the next day with bad weather or no whale shark sightings. So we had a few more beers and called it a night for our early wake tomorrow. Pete and I had done a lot of research to maximize our chances of seeing some whale sharks; after all we didn’t fly all the way to the Philippines for fireflies, as beautiful as they were. Apparently, the best time of day to see the sharks is in the early morning. So we made our way down to the tourist office and signed up for the first available boat out. We were paired with a couple from Slovenia, a woman from Taiwan and a local Philippines girl and off we went. After sitting on the open water, with a beautiful clear view of the Mayon volcano, for two hours, we had successfully tanned our entire bodies while waiting for the arrival of the whale sharks. Everyone looked at our BIO (Butanding Interaction Officer) anxiously, who had promised us we wouldn’t be leaving until we saw a whale shark. But 11 o’clock rolled around and our boat jumped into high gear racing to catch up to the swarm of boats that had clearly spotted some sharks. Adrenalin was now racing through our bodies. Is this it? Is this really happening?! Are we going to finally see these long awaited sharks!?

We quickly got our gear on and sat eagerly by the edge of the boat awaiting instructions to” jump” by our BIO. Any fear I had of being swallowed whole by these beasts, or by any other sharks that may have been lingering in the waters, flew out the window in the chaos of disembarking. When our BIO yelled “JUMP!” all 7 of us jumped off the side of the boat, on top of one another. We quickly followed the lead of our BIO through the water to where there were swarms of people. We looked… and looked… and looked but nothing was there. All that excitement for nothing! So we all swam back and hung our flippers off the side of the boat anxiously waiting for the next opportunity to jump. A few minutes later there was another spotting. Our boat got into position and we all jumped, swam over to the swarm of people who had beat us there and looked down in the water. I must have been staring at the same spot for a minute thinking “what is everyone staring at!?”And then I saw it.

It was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. It’s head was wider than I am tall, and its colour was of soft grey with white spots. It was so close that if I was to become vertical I would be at risk of kicking it with my flippers. I swam alongside it for just over a minute, taking in every inch of its gigantic body, when I realized I had only glimpsed one quarter of it. This Whale shark was easily 15 meters in length and moved slowly through the water ignoring all the pandemonium going on all around it. As our day went on, we got to jump in about 5 more times and I saw a total of four whale sharks. Pete wasn’t as fortunate as I; he only managed to see one whale shark. But, just seeing the one truly made the experience worthwhile. Being able to swim next to such a gentle giant was a surreal experience but in a way, I felt like I was intruding. That I really didn’t belong there, disturbing them as they were just trying to eat.

There are no words to describe how beautiful these creatures are, and you realize this as you are looking down at them. Nevertheless, as you are enjoying their company you are also being pushed, kicked, scratched and swam over by the other people just trying to get closer. Pete and I are good swimmers so we had no problem staying afloat, but the sheer madness of the crazed people slightly dampened our experience. I can only imagine how the whale sharks feel being harassed each and every day during their migration to the Philippines.

The next day in the Philippines we decided to try our luck again but unfortunately we didn’t get the opportunity to see anymore whale sharks. We did however get to work on our tan and enjoyed being out on the water. We had some lunch at the restaurant next to the tourist office because we were sick of eating the very average food at our resort and then headed back for our last night in Donsol. Our flight flew to Manila early Wednesday morning and we had some time to kill between that and our flight back to Busan, South Korea. We ended up venturing to Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in South East Asia. Being on a budget, the only thing we bought was a delicious (and cheap for Starbucks standards!!!) frapiccinio. As our trip came to and end, Pete and I sat in the airport thinking about all the adventures we’d just had. We really wished we had more time to explore the Philippines, but unfortunately we had to go back to work in Korea.

There is no doubt about it, 2011 is one for the history books of Sam. This year has hands down been the most eventful year of my life. It all started off with a bang at the stroke of twelve, while Pete and I rang in the New Year with some of our closest friends. We didn’t know it at the time but our lives were about to be taken on a wild adventure across 10 countries.

Although 2011 hasn’t been so great for some people, Kim Jong Il and Amy Winehouse just to name a few, Pete and I have been lucky enough to make some our wildest dreams come true. We’ve drank champagne in the Champagne region, we’ve been bums in Europe, watched the sunset in Oia, partied it up in Ibiza and walked along the last pieces of the Berlin wall. How on earth are we ever going to top the memories we made? Quite frankly, we’re not. We are only going to build up from here. Yes, I’m sad to see 2011 go, but oh boy, am I excited for the adventures of 2012! A new year, a new start, new goals and dreams to achieve. This is our first full year with no school and a steady income. Sure we have some bills and school debts to pay off but we’re only young once. We might as well make the best of our time without the responsibility of cars, insurance, mortgage, babies, etc.

So let’s get to the down and dirty. What does Samantha have cooked up for her 2012 resolutions?

1) Oh, you know the usual; lose 10 pounds (and keep it off). Except I’m going to go a little nontraditional at this point; I want run a consecutive 20 K by the end of 2012. I love running but up until Pete’s discovery of Nike +, our running regime was Pete runs a lap and walks the other 15 while saying “I’ll always hate running” and “I’m a sprinting athlete”, while I lightly jog my 10k. Now, Pete strives to beat his five minute mile, outruns me without even breaking a sweat and talks nonstop about how awesome he is. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, annoying! But I finally have someone to run with, someone to challenge me, someone who no longer “hates running”. So needless to say I have made an executive decision and added this to Pete’s resolutions, he just may not know it yet. So OUR resolution is to run 20k….and hopefully lose 10 pounds while in the process.

2) So for my (our) second resolution, I want to visit 10 new countries by 2013. This would put my total countries visited to around 30. After our contract is up, Pete and I are planning to backpack South East Asia for a few months. Like I said, we are only young once. I cannot imagine leaving this side of the world without further exploring it. So many experiences and countries to wonder through. I’m so excited about this resolution. It will take a lot of saving and a lot of planning but nothing excites me more, and quite frankly is the reason why I wake up in the mornings and go to work.

3) And my third new years resolution is to create a bucket list. I have always made short term goals with the future rarely in mind. Yes, graduating and getting a job was on my mental check list, but still the thought of being in a career seems too grown up for me. Everyday I think of new things I want to do, or accomplish before I leave this world but my thoughts are always so scattered that these rarely make it to my long term memory. So alas, I am determined to make a list of everything I wish to accomplish. In a way, this is a spin on the old resolution to get organized.

So that pretty much sums up my plans for 2012. I know it will never top last year but if you keep living life trying to outdo each year you will find yourself frequently disappointed. Hopefully I can live each day to the fullest and just add to my great memories of the world as Pete and I discover it.

So I have officially survived the last six months of working 14 hours of overtime each week. Needless to say I have had no time to do anything other than work, eat, sleep and catch up on all my TV shows. Although I have greatly enjoyed having the extra money, it was definitely not worth my sanity which I felt I was ever so slowly loosing, along with the size of my waist band.

For the past six months, working in the mornings meant going out for lunch with auntie and the two younger boys. Unlike Canada, there are no salad options and hardly any vegetarian options at all. So in true Korean fashion my lunches consisted of large helpings of carbs, carbs, carbs and more carbs with a side of veggies. At one point, I thought of renaming this blog to “my year of thigh enlargement”. I ate so many different types of rice and noodles that I would dream of salad at night and wake up craving broccoli. Don’t get me wrong, I did fully enjoy eating these delicious Korean dishes, but there are only so many noodles one can eat without wanting to kill whoever invented such food.

But alas, it is March, the third month, and in Korea there are no actual names for the months so the third month is “sam”, plainly meaning “three”. So it is literally the month of Sam, it is MY month. I am saying goodbye to those delicious spicy noodles and those little bowls of rice and hello to the gym and I couldn’t be happier! Although I managed to work out about 2 or 3 times a week during the past months, it was not nearly enough to offset the amount rice I consumed.

On March 2nd, I fitted my shoe with my new Nike plus running partner, signed up for a 10K race in Gyungju and stepped on the scale of doom. Ok, so not as bad as I thought. I had only gained about 3lbs, but in my mind it felt like 100lbs. I just didn’t feel right. My clothes were tight where they shouldn’t be and I noticed an extra jiggle here and there. It’s only been 6 days into March and I have clocked a solid 30km on the treadmill, cut out those delicious carbs and started counting down the days until the 10k race. I have never been happier to have time to myself.

Although I am extremely glad to have my Visa paid off by the mass amount of overtime hours I worked, I am tired and worn out and I still have 6 more months to go. I look forward to the next few months as the weather is getting much warmer and I finally have the time to enjoy it! Yes, I was a little late getting started on my new year’s resolution but it’s not when you start but rather the journey you take to get there.